Delinquent among Basketball players
by OmgPocky
Summary: A former delinquent wanted a new change of pace in life, distancing his present and past. Entering Seirin high school to start a new chapter in life, the first thing life throws at him is a teen with zero presence and orange basket balls (which by the way hurts more than it should). Wherever he goes mayhem would follow. No matter how hard he tries to avoid it.
1. New School, New Year

**Beware that this is all my fault.**

 **There is so many female OC's and one day my brain decided, "Hey! How about making a male OC in KnB? There is a small number of male OC in the fandom and they aren't Shonen-Ai related!" (Yes this _story will contain Shonen-Ai_ because why the hell not?)  
**

 **Thus I created this fic.**

 **You can't get mad at me.**

 **Hey.**

 **Don't look at me like that.**

 **I do what I want :D**

 **I know I should be updating my 'REBORN! in KHR' fanfic (anyone who doesn't know it, feel free to check it out!) but this is an opportunity for me to play around with a much more complex character with a harder exterior/personality. Well...some things are same so yeah.**

 **Disclaimer: Does not own Kuroko no Basket, I do own my OC.**

 **Warning: Foul language present, errors that I missed and an OC with personality.**

 **Authors note** (12/12/2015):

I know what you all are wondering.

Why is the format different?

The reason for that is because I noticed how fast paced my story is going and that I seriously need to slow the story down. It seemed unrealistic to bond a friendship in just one day after meeting so I rewrote how Ryuu and Kuroko's first meeting.

The opening scene in episode one of the anime where Kagami makes his first appearance won't happen in this chapter. This all takes place a week before that which gives enough time for Ryuu and Kuroko to befriend on another properly.

 **Take note of the new author's note above for old readers before proceeding! For the new ones, welcome and go on right ahead!**

* * *

The air conditioner above him rattled before blasting out a jet of cool air into his face. He frowned at the damaged air conditioner with annoyance. The air conditioner had done the same action since he sat down on his seat after boarding the bus.

With winter coming to a swift end and spring is just right up the corner, the weather still remained cold. Ryuu would have switched seats but looking over to the number of people in the bus he thought better.

He rather sit the whole ride through freezing his ass off than go through all the trouble to change his seat.

The teen rubbed his bare hands together and brought them close to his mouth, letting out a wisp of warm breath over his numbing fingers. He clench and relaxed his hands several times, working to get blood back to his fingertips once more. Satisfied with the outcome, he turned to look out the window and watch the world go on by.

Usually Ryuu would have walked to school instead of taking the bus. Considering the lack of high schools in his area, Ryuu has no choice but to find a school a bit farther from home. With his mother's urging to find a new school, Ryuu on his part created a list.

It's not because he dread going to a school where no one knows him but because they weren't exactly rich. Seirin high had not been on his list of high school selections and being it a new school, it never crossed his mind. It was only because his mother recommended it did he know the name.

Surprisingly the school in question was the one he would be attending in the end. Several facts factored to why Ryuu choose that such as his reputation. Ryuu have never been the goody two shoe type of person. But because of that a large majority of schools has rejected his admission.

Added his mother wanted him to go somewhere where no one from his middle school were ever to recognize him. Stating that he needed a new start without rumours of the past to follow him through high school.

The school board had been somewhat hesitant to admit a student with his kind of reputation. The chances of having him admitted could affect them. But they could not ignore the fact Ryuu's excellent grades could get their name recognized. It had been a gamble but in the end they admitted him into their school.

The bus jerked into a sudden halt which took the teen by surprise. The sudden stop caused his head to snap forward and collide with the seat in front of him. He let out a curse and rubbed his forehead, frowning when he spotted a red mark on his reflection.

Gold color eyes stared back at Ryuu, belonging to a slightly tan face with a define jawline and pointed chin. Longer than normal coal black hair brushed against the collar of his jacket, his bangs partially covering both his eyes. Yet the stark difference in color made his sharp eyes stand out.

The face belonging to a lean and moderate athletic male who has his hands on his forehead. The front of his uniform unzip to chest level revealing his white undershirt beneath.

His entire persona scream 'delinquent' and the irony was that Ryuu had been one before.

Several rows behind him, two high school girls giggled with one another as they happen to witness his little mishap. One even dare to point at Ryuu.

He turned his head to their direction as he happen to hear soft laughter and caught the girl pointing at him. He shot them a hard look. The girl who had the decency to not point at him took note of the look he sent at their direction.

She visibly blanched before shaking her friend by the arm, whispering into her ear. The other girl shot a confused look at her seat mate and allowed the other to speak into her ear. She clamped her mouth shut and shot a fearful look at Ryuu, the silly smile on her face gone.

When the bus finally stopped at his designated destination, the young male took no time to get off. The fearful whispers drowned out by the loud hiss of the doors closing behind him.

The cold morning air felt no different from when the teen had sat under the air conditioner moments ago. Ignoring the sharp prickle on his skin, the male re-adjusted the strap of his shoulder bag as it dug into his shoulder before starting his trek. He trailed behind several students clad in the school same uniform as his.

Ryuu took his time taking in his surroundings and made an effort to memorize some familiar land markers just in case he had forgotten the way to school. He had only been to Seirin once with his mother to register but at that moment of time, the male had a lot on his mind.

Luckily the pamphlet shoved in his bag had a small map. Instead of using the map, he followed a large number of student wearing the same uniform.

Most of the students walking before him are in no rush to reach school and had taken their time to enjoy their last moment of freedom. Other than that, it's because the school's opening ceremony would not start until an hour later. This allows new students such as himself to find his assigned class and get his schedule from the class teacher.

Rounding a corner, Ryuu quickly spotted the front gates of Seirin high, covered with decorative flowers made of paper. Especially the white banner standing next to the gate with its edges covered with said decorations.

Ryuu let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the large building. With renewed vigour he quicken his walking pace, wanting to be out of the cold weather.

Several students lingered at the gate and as Ryuu came close he noted that they are the older students. Probably assigned by their teachers to greet new comers like him. A pair of student standing closest to Ryuu had caught his attention.

"I have the feeling that this year is going to be different." said a tall male with dark short hair and narrow eyes, "Don't know if it's a gut feeling or the lack of sleep is getting to me."

A girl with short caramel colour hair, her bangs pinned with two black hair clips shot her partner a dry look, "Did you seriously stayed up late last night, Junpei?"

"I lost track of time."

"You idiot!"

Ryuu cast the duo a side way look as he walked on by, something about their friendly dynamic had reminded the male of someone familiar. The teen shook his head from the thought and continued to make his way towards the main building.

* * *

His teacher shot the young teen a gentle smile which reminded Ryuu of his mother's smile as he trailed after the older women like a lost puppy. The older women in her mid thirties is taller than Ryuu by just a head with her blonde hair cut into a short bobby cut, curled slightly at the end and has a strange fondness for sweaters.

Especially rabbits.

Golden eyes trailed down from the rabbit pattern sweater to the rabbit key chain dangling on his soon to be his class teacher's pencil box. Ryuu snapped his gaze up to stare at the back of the teacher's head once he caught himself staring longer than needed.

"Here we are!" the teacher cheered, moving aside for Ryuu to walk into her classroom, "This is my classroom and from today onward you are my homeroom student. You will be seeing my face in the morning and when you have English classes."

"Of course Sensei," Ryuu shot the older women a smile, giving her a slight bow before straightening himself. He had to give kudos to the women for keeping her relaxed composure when most would have stammered, clearly intimidated by his appearance.

"Well you should head on in," she softly clapped the male on his shoulder as a friendly gesture, "Find a seat and make some friends, I'll be back to collect you all for the ceremony later."

With that the teacher walked away leaving Ryuu alone to stand awkwardly at the doorway. The male pursed his lips together as he turned his gaze to the classroom before him, noting that most of the seats in the front had already been taken leaving the back seats free for the taking.

He took one step into the class and immediately the chatter died down to a soft mummer, all eyes drawn to his figure at the front. Even without knowing of his reputation, with the fearful looks directed to him and the whispered pass bout from one person to another simply remind Ryuu that change won't come that easy by just picking a high school where no one knew him from middle school.

Without letting the mask of indifference slip, he simply made his way to the back of the class and choose his seat. He picked his seat near the window, the second row from the back finding the area easier for him to sometimes not pay attention when the teacher's would drone on about things so boring the information would simply go over his head if he was listening.

A little while after settling into his seat did the chatter picked up once the others realized that the teen is clearly ignoring them for most of the part. He rolled his eyes at them and continued to look out the window being the only thing to entertain him.

Suddenly the hairs of the back of his neck stood on ends, his skin prickled with the familiar feeling of someone staring intently at the back of his head. Being a former delinquent, Ryuu knew by heart that attacking in one's blind spot is the most effective way to knock them out or physically harm them. Knowing that, Ryuu made sure to never have anyone come into his blind spot or try to hide their presence around him. He could not afford to let someone slip past his defenses.

Instinctively the black hair teen whirled back to whoever is sitting behind him and grabbed the blue haired male by the collar of his shirt and the small male forward.

Only the sound of his chair scraping harshly against the tile floors did Ryuu snapped back to his senses. His heart dropped down to his stomach when he found himself staring into blank blue eyes, his hand fisting a handful of dark fabric.

Before Ryuu stood a teal blue haired teen just several centimeters shorter than him with his head just reaching around Ryuu's eye level, clad in the same uniform like his own.

"Oh shit…" Ryuu cursed under his breath and snatched his hand back as if he touched hot iron. He looked back to the male he just assaulted moments ago with horror written on his face before quickly making his way out, bewildering several students who stood loitering around at the doorway.

"What's his problem?" one male student questioned, peering out the doorway to stare at the black haired teen.

"I don't know," another replied with uncertainty written on their face, "But he looks scary!"

None of them ever noticed the teal haired male standing at the back of the class pat down the front of his jacket where Ryuu had grabbed him. The teen stared down at his fallen book he had been reading earlier and picked it up from floor, contemplating what had occurred moments ago.

* * *

Kuroko Tetsuya did not expect for the newcomer to turn around so suddenly when the male had obviously didn't notice him sitting at the back like everyone else. In honesty Kuroko has no idea how he brought that reaction to himself. All his did was just stared at the back of the black haired teen's head, mentally noting in his mind to stay clear for the intimidating students.

The teen's reaction however interests him. He did not indicate the male of his existence like he would usually do considering how many people look over his head with his very weak presence and yet the stranger managed to notice him. Not right away but still – the delinquent noticed him quickly compared to others.

Kuroko dusted off dirt that stuck to his book and placed it back into his bag before walking out of class, going in the general direction where the black haired teen stormed off. It won't be hard considering the wake of whispering people he left behind.

* * *

Ryuu found a secluded place to wallow in his own inner turmoil and slumped against the wall as he sat near to the stair case leading to the rooftop, sliding down to the floor with his face buried in his hands. The black haired teen held back from letting out a frustrated groan or find the nearest wall to punch until his knuckles bleed.

He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a shaky breath. Ryuu had thought he kept a tight rein on his temper especially after the inciden – He shook his head from the thought, biting down hard on his lower lips to distract his thoughts from straying to the darker parts of his mind.

He cannot afford destroying his mother's hard earn effort.

"Get your shit together Ryuu…." The male muttered to himself, "Don't lose it. It was just one mistake. Everyone makes mistakes."

The sound of approaching footfalls made Ryuu clamp his mouth shut, silencing him further from talking. He did not bother to lift his head up to see who else other than him would bother going to a more secluded part of the school and waited for the person to pass.

"Do you always attack someone and run away after?"

Ryuu flinched at the voice under presumptions that no one would bother talking to someone looking like him before dragging his hands down his face to stare at the person talking is referring to his earlier spectacle in class.

Looking into the very eyes of the person he just manhandled, Ryuu let out a curse, "Fuck."

The teal haired teen barely flinched at him, merely staring down at Ryuu with a slight tilt of his head in a birdlike manner. Ryuu glared at the newcomer as he wanted to be left alone to gather his composure before returning back to class.

"What do _you_ want?" he frowned at the male, a hint of hostility evident in his tone.

"An apology would be great," the other teen replied, "You did just assault me earlier." He added.

"And what makes you think I won't kick your ass here?" Ryuu replied with a sneer. He wanted the teen to scamper away, be intimidated by his empty threat and leave his presence. He'll deal with the fact it just ruined his only chance starting anew in Seirin another time. Instead the stranger remained glued to his spot and seemed fazed by Ryuu's empty threat much to Ryuu's surprise.

"Your reaction back then," the teal haired teen answered, "You genuinely looked horrified after grabbing my jacket."

Ryuu's breath hitched and his eyes widen with surprise, abruptly standing up from his seat to glower at the shorter male despite just being several inches taller, "You know what?" He gritted out through clenched teeth, "Fuck you."

Knowing where this conversation would be heading if progressed, Ryuu shoved past the male and stormed back to class. He has his fair share of threats back in the day especially being blackmailed repeatedly by rival gangs. If he let the teal haired teen continue with their conversation, it would eventually lead up to him being blackmailed having already to pick up on several distinct signs in their short conversation.

The black haired teen knew he is on his wits end at that point and would gladly snip the bud of their conversation to avoid a whole lot of conflicts in the near future. He rather suffer being tattle tailed to the teacher than tarnishing his reputation further more.

Luckily the teen did not follow and most students have scampered out of his way as he walked back to his class having to see or feel his irritation. Sadly he did not notice another person tailing behind just several meters away.

Ryuu reached his class in record time just as the bell rang indicating 30 minutes has passed with his teacher approaching in the opposite direction. She noticed the teen quickly and quicken her pace to reach him as students loitering about the hallways either head to the opening ceremony held at the hall or return to class for their teacher to fetch them.

"I see you went exploring," His teacher noted with a smile seeing Ryuu's shoulder bag absent at his side, "Do you have a grasp of the school's foundation?"

Any evidence of anger lingering was gone without as Ryuu returned the smile effortlessly, "Just this building, Sensei."

"Well let's get going to the opening ceremony!" she cheered before peaking into the room beside her like a child to call the other students left remaining in class that are new to the school compound like Ryuu before being ushered towards the hall where the opening ceremony is being held.

During the entire walk there Ryuu kept an eye out for oddly bright blue hair.

* * *

 **If there is any error that I might have missed out, PM me and I'll correct the mistake.**

 **Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)**


	2. Seatmate

**I want to cry.**

 **I don't know if I somehow fucked up my writing skills or sleep is getting to me.**

* * *

Ryuu pursued his lips together into a thin line, forcing himself to focus his gaze forward and ignore the person seated next to him. He pointedly looked forward and watched the old man come up to stage, waving to the crowd in front that cheered at his arrival while ignoring the pinpricking feeling of those blank blue eyes staring into him. He inwardly cursed for not taking the seat at the very end of the row.

He should have kept a better look out for anyone that decided to sit next to him. Not because he's an asshole for being selective but rather he did not want that boy to sit next to him.

Unfortunately Ryuu paid the price for not doing so.

How the teal haired male manage to slip past his scrutinizing gaze remains unknown but by the time Ryuu had noticed, it was already too late and nearly made him curse out loud in exasperation.

He unraveled his crossed arms for the fifth time, the only sign that the black haired teen is restless, and shot a cautious look to the teal haired teen seated on his right before hastily looking away when their gaze met. Ryuu let out a soft curse when he got caught staring.

"I'm not going to report you to the teachers if you were wondering," The teal haired boy softly spoke to Ryuu. The only indication that the latter is listening is how his golden gaze flickered to the male briefly.

"I just wanted an answer for your sudden reaction. Nothing else. If it makes you feel any better then I apologize for provoking you to attack first. It was rude of me to stare in the first place."

This had brought a reaction from Ryuu who finally acknowledge the other teen by turning to face the male, pinning the shorter teen with his piercing gaze. Ryuu had every right to feel uncertain about the male as he try to determine to take his word for it or there is an ulterior motive to it.

"How can I be sure you mean it?" Ryuu replied in a soft tone but one could hear how cold the male delivered it, "Are you not going to use it as a mean of blackmail material? I have enough lies with this shit. Go ahead. I dare you to report to the teacher. "

"No one saw it," the teen replied coolly, "I'm the only one who witnessed the entire thing. The only thing the others saw is you storming past them."

Ryuu snorted, "Bullshit."

The corner of the teen's mouth twitched slightly and without saying more the teal haired boy stood up from his seat. Ryuu waited for the teachers to call the boy out for disrupting the ceremonial speech considering how some teachers had shushed several students caught talking but none of them said a word and even if they did, they quickly looked away as if he wasn't there.

Ryuu watched with wide eyes as the teen shuffled out of the row, none of the students noticing him despite the male standing just before them. The teal haired boy even made one round around the gym, walking at the front and yet no one paid any attention to him.

When the male finally came back to his seat, Ryuu reconsidered his chances and reluctantly believe him.

"Dude, what the hell was that?" Ryuu asked in a soft voice, ducking his head down to avoid being spotted talking, "No one called you out!"

The teen looked at him with a look of expectancy," Do you trust me now?"

Thinking back now with evidence piled up against him, Ryuu felt that he owed the boy an apology for his actions and jumping to conclusions quickly. But he appreciate the fact the teen had swallowed his pride where many would not and admit they're at fault.

The black haired teen coughed into his hand to hide his growing embarrassment, "Look, I'm sorry about earlier and lashing out without reason. I get it's a dick move and I would greatly appreciate that we put this all past us."

"Kuroko Tetsuya," Kuroko interjected.

Ryuu jerked back and stared at Kuroko being taken aback with the sudden change in topic, "What?"

"My name, "Kuroko replied, "Its Kuroko Tetsuya."

"What does giving your name to me have to do?"

"We started off on the wrong foot and I would like to correct that error," he replied, "If I'm going to sit behind you for the entire year, I want no bad blood between us."

After a brief moment of silence with the two teens staring at one another, Ryuu then let out an amused snort which is close to be considered a laugh much to Kuroko's confusion.

"Is there something funny?" He asked.

"I have to hand it to you," Ryuu smirked, "You are more than what meets the eye."

He leaned back into his seat and shot a look over to the class teachers sitting at the side before looking back at Kuroko, "Igarashi Ryuu. Former delinquent and a person would gladly drop that title when enrolling into high school."

Ryuu felt no shame for revealing such vital information of who he was before and would rather throw it into the open so that he could correct it. He stopped being one after graduating middle school. The only thing Ryuu is ashamed of is his who he had become during his middle school years. Not for his actions as he had reasons behind them.

"I get the hint," Kuroko replied, "I had my fair share meeting some in my middle school."

Ryuu didn't have to figure out that Kuroko based his assumption on his appearance before his actions. He replied with a hum as he stared forward.

"But you're different."

The black haired teen looked to the side, "How so?"

"I'm not sure but I can tell," Kuroko answered.

Ryuu huffed before the two relapsed back into silence. It didn't stay that way long as Ryuu broke the silence between them with a question that lingered in his mind.

"So anything you should say about your act earlier? The one where you walked around without being yelled at?" He asked.

Kuroko opened his mouth to answer but is cut off by a teacher that had spotted Ryuu talking. The latter glowered silently in his seat as the ceremony went on by. Kuroko could only do arch an eyebrow to his seat mate before getting comfortable himself.

* * *

School went on by quickly, the only eventful thing that happed that morning is when Ryuu almost knocked Kuroko off his feet. The highlight of the day is when Kuroko walked around the gym in the middle of a speech and not get called out for it. The sad thing was that Ryuu was the one caught talking and would have been reprimand severely by the teachers had it not been his teacher who saved the day.

From then Ryuu haven't seen or talked to Kuroko after the ceremony had ended with the students let off to return home early as classes won't start until two days later. This allows students to properly acquire the required number of notebooks to write into as pre requested by their subject teachers.

Ryuu took the time to walk home and contemplate his day which started a little rocky but overall fine in his opinion. He managed to get on neutral grounds with his classmate after a slight misunderstanding on his part; an unforeseen incident but highly anticipated.

The male scaled several flight of stairs with ease, taking two steps of the time before landing on the fifth floor of his apartment complex. He turned down to the hallway his left and fished out his apartment keys out of his pocket which jingled in his grasp as he inserted it into the key hole. But before he could even unlock it, the door swung open without any warning.

Ryuu did not yelp like a kicked puppy if one were to ask him and hastily jumped out of the way, avoiding the thick door slamming into his face had he not moved.

Standing at the door frame is a young woman in her early thirties, black hair tied into a messy bun and wild green eyes burning with worry but when her gaze settled on Ryuu standing there, the worry melted away and in place relief replaced it.

"I'm home Okaasan," Ryuu grinned sheepishly.

While she looked young to have a teenage son like Ryuu being at seventeen years old, her eyes told another story. The knowing look or knowledge only old people would have present in her gaze as if Machiko had already lived a long life already only to live it again once more. He snuffed the guilty feeling churning in the pit of his stomach upon seeing how exhausted and deathly pale his mother looked like.

At his greeting a soft yet tired smile spread across her lips, "Welcome home," she replied back before ushering her son inside, "How was Seirin?"

Ryuu shrugged as he slipped off his shoes, "Fine I guess…"

By fine besides assaulting a person, then by Ryuu's definition it is.

He did not want to worry his mother that he almost risked getting expelled by the school for trying to threaten and assault his classmate. He did not want her to be burden with more of his troubles especially how a little shit he was in middle school.

"And?" his mother prodded.

"…The school is bigger than I thought it would be. I can't say the teachers are nice since I only met my homeroom teacher but she's nice," Ryuu listed them off his fingers, "And I met a guy with oddly bright blue hair."

His mother snorted, "Says the boy who tried to dye his hair red and I quote 'dye my hair red to strike fear into the hearts of my enemy'."

"You swore secrecy to never speak of that ever again."

She simply let out a short laugh and strolled into their small kitchen with Ryuu trailing behind. Their apartment is small with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a small living room with an adjoining kitchen. Like any other apartment in the building, they have their own private balcony.

Without looking away from the dish Machiko had left simmering when she answered the door, not turning her gaze away she instructed her son, "Can you help me prepare the table?"

"Okay."

He placed his bag beside the couch before heading straight to the cabinet where they store their dishes, pulling out the plates and setting them on the table just as his mother come up holding onto a pot of recently cooked curry.

"We're having curry!" Machiko cheered, practically skipping towards the table with her load.

"Okaasan!" Ryuu called out, concern that his mother might hurt herself if she tripped over and rushed over to her side, "Be careful."

She smiled in reply, allowing Ryuu to pull the pot away from her grasp knowing fighting against him would be useless, "I am being careful."

He arched an eyebrow and shot sceptical a look at her.

"I am!"

He shook his head at his mother and moved to the table, placing the very hot cooking pot onto of a specialized coaster and took his seat while his mother grabbed the rice cooker. He counted the things on the table and visibly stiffen when his gaze landed on the third plate on the table. Ryuu's mellow mood turning dark at the sight.

Gold colored eyes flickered to the women in the kitchen who had her back face towards Ryuu oblivious of his inner turmoil.

He pursed his lips together into a thin line and made a grab for the plate, almost breaking the third plate in his efforts to put it back into the cabinet before his mother could see his mistake. The ceramic plate rattled against the pile which caused Machiko to jump in surprise and whirl her head back.

"Did something break?" She questioned him.

Ryuu shook his head and forced a smile on his face, "Nothing broke. Just knocked over my cup."

To prove his point, the black haired teen held up his cup which he had grabbed after placing the plate. His mother stared at him longer and seemed hesitant to take his word but quickly dropped the subject with a shrug of her shoulder and turned back to her work, missing the look of sadness flashing through golden eyes.

With his mother's attention somewhere else, Ryuu let out a relieved sigh and leaned against the cabinet before a flash of anger surged through him. He grind his teeth together, barely holding back curses threatening to slip past his lips for slipping up.

He can't afford repeating that mistake again.

He has to forget.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Just forget.

* * *

Ryuu laid in bed, sprawled out on it as he stared up at the ceiling. Lazily counting the cheap plastic glow in the dark stick it stars littered on his ceiling before craning his head to the side. Golden eyes skittering over his cabinet and study table, lingering longer on the picture frame hidden in the shadows and ignored the painful stab in his heart knowing three people in the picture will smile back at him.

They were three of them and now it's just two.

He shut his eyes tight and took a deep breath before opening them once more.

"What the fuck…" Ryuu muttered darkly under his breath and threw an arm over his eyes, a small sigh escaping his lips as he contemplate his day.

Everyone is still threaten by his appearance save for several teachers that he had crossed like his homeroom teacher who barely bat an eyelash at him or the teacher that had hissed at him during the school opening ceremony for talking.

It felt strange to not for once feel alienated.

The last school he attended to, the teachers hated him to the core and would go out of their way to send the male to detention for just breathing in their general direction and the students would shy away from him unless they were his 'friends'.

The term friends being used lightly.

He abandoned them without any warning, turning his back on them when they tried to reach out for the male. Ryuu doubt they would want him back after pulling that stunt.

He smiled and let out a dry laugh at the thought before diverting his thoughts on another topic.

Students of Seirin do shy away from him but none of them ran away in fear especially one student who faced him off with a blank look on their face, void of any fear as he towered before them threateningly.

Kuroko Tetsuya.

His lips twitched at the name that entered his mind.

The teal haired male had the guts to confront him head on regardless of the consequences; an interesting individual who deemed Ryuu to be different from the other delinquents like him.

Ryuu scoffed before lying on his side, interesting or not, he hoped that will be the last time he would interact with the teen before closing his eyes.

* * *

Ryuu really didn't want to lift his head up, feeling very tried to drag himself off the bed. He couldn't sleep well last night with so many things weighing on his mind, begging to be thought out more but ultimately shoved into the deepest recesses of his mind.

When dawn broke, the male wanted to throw his alarm clock out the window regardless of the collateral damage. He only stopped short when his mother knocked on the door, telling him to get ready for school as she went on ahead to prepare breakfast.

After literally pumping himself with caffeine – not coffee as it gives him a migraine with just one simple sip – he only had the energy to get to school before slumping against his desk, ignoring the looks sent his direction when his forehead collide loudly against it.

He really, really, really did not want to lift his head.

"I-I'm sorry for disturbing you, "A person, a girl his mind supplied, stammered out softly, "Th-the front seats are taken and I just wanted to know if-if anyone is sitting in front of y–"

Ryuu cut the girl off having grown tired of her stammering, "You can take it. I'm fine with it."

The class fell silent which caused Ryuu to twitch and finally lift his head up, a small groan leaving his lips when his eyes met with petrified brown ones. The girl has black hair cut into a short bob with a red hair band used to tuck her hair out of her face and immediately Ryuu took the teen to be the timid type of person that gets intimidated easily from seeing how she clutched her school bag close to her chest as if it could protect her from Ryuu if he were to attack.

The black haired teen sighed knowing his irate attitude would do nothing but scare the girl. The longer their conversation is going to take, the longer he has to wait before allowing himself the pleasure of trying to nod off. He gestured to the empty seat before him with his head.

"Take it," he told her in a relaxed and nonchalant manner.

Without even waiting for her response, the teen ducked his head down once more while ignoring many pairs of eyes boring into him.

"….ar-are you sure?"

Ryuu wanted to slam his head against the table but refrained from doing so.

"No one is sitting here, what else do you want me to say?" He bit out irritably, grimacing when he sounded harsher than he meant it to be.

Moving his head to the side so that he could stare up at the student, it came as no surprise when his response further frighten the girl and pushed her to the brink of almost crying, her doe eyes glister with unshed tears.

He visibly wince at the sight especially when whispers broke out through the on watching crowd that shot Ryuu a look of apprehension in his direction. He resisted the urge to drag a hand over his face and snap angrily at the others, instead focus himself on making amends.

"Please don't cry, "He told her softly, "I'm sorry for snapping at you."

Somehow his words work. The reaction was quick as her fearful expression turned into a look of surprise like a deer in headlights with wide eyes staring at him almost as if she had saw something.

He frowned at her when she remained unresponsive.

"Do you want to sit here or not?"

His question broke the girl out of her trance. She stammered out a reply and hastily took her seat, putting some distance between herself and him before talking to her friend sitting in font in a hush tone; likely talking about him.

Ryuu rolled his eyes at the girl before addressing to those staring at them. He shot them a glare of his own which instantly made them divert their attention away, pretending that they weren't staring at him earlier.

Another sigh left Ryuu's lips knowing his actions has its repercussions and returned to what he was doing. He laid a cheek over the cool table top, relaxing just slightly at the wonderful sensation–

A sharp jab to his back startled Ryuu back awake. The black haired teen abruptly stood straighter in his seat before whirling around to see who was the idiot that decided to shove a pencil into his back.

He glowered when his eyes met familiar blue ones.

"Any other reason why you decided to jab me on the back like someone had decided to plunge a fucking knife instead? Ryuu questioned.

Kuroko pulled away the mechanical pencil he had used to jab into Ryuu's side and was nice enough to use the blunt side. Even so, to Ryuu it felt like he had used the pointed end.

"Class is starting," Kuroko replied matter of fact as Ryuu rubbed his sore side, grumbling under his breath while he gave the former a look of displeasure.

As Kuroko had said that, their homeroom teacher skipped into the room and greeted her students with a bright smile on her face and patiently waited for her students to return to their respective seats before doing their attendance.

Ryuu took this chance to turn back at Kuroko with a threat on his tongue, faltering when for a moment he saw Kuroko's seat empty but quickly dismissed the thought to be his eyes playing tricks when Kuroko stared back at him, a small book he had been reading in his hands.

He arched an eyebrow at Ryuu, "Can I help you?"

"Stab me in the back with that pencil one more time and I will break your fucking fingers."

He did not flinch or react to Ryuu's threat.

"…Okay," he answered.

One more look shot at Kuroko, Ryuu turned back to face the teacher who was already done with attendance and proceed to instruct the students the rules of their class and then went to introducing herself.

"Since some of you have yet to receive your schedules seeing several new faces here I will be handing it out after class but for now, let's start my class which would be English!" She said and to emphasize, pulled out an English textbook for the class to see, "–and I'm well aware that some of you have yet to obtain this book, to compensate those who don't have them, they are to share with those who have!"

She once again sent her students a dazzling smile with a clap of her hands.

Ryuu rummage though his bag, pulling out the very same textbook his teacher is holding save for the fact it was worn down and older compared to her new one. He ran a finger over the spine of the book, letting out a small hum of appreciation knowing that his mother went through all the trouble of obtaining this book from someone who previously owned it.

"I should thank her…." Ryuu murmured to himself before he laid the book before him, right over the line where his desk and Kuroko's desk are joined together.

His brain stopped for a moment at the sight before it kick started with a vengeance and accidentally kicked the leg of his table as a reaction. The commotion Ryuu had made caused both his classmates and his teacher to look over at him.

"Is there anything wrong, Igarashi-san?" His teacher asked.

Ryuu shook his head, "Nothing wrong, Sensei."

She allowed her gaze to linger on his form for a moment before she diverted her attention away. Feeling her gaze shift away along with a large majority of students, Ryuu sank into his seat with a relieved sigh leaving his lips and clenched his hands into a fist. His anger flaring up just a little.

His eyes went over to the teal haired male seated comfortable next to him, oblivious to the murderous look sent his direction as Kuroko went on pulling out a notebook to write in from his bag.

"I don't have the book, "Kuroko said and met his gaze, "And Sensei gave permission for us to share, so you have to share it with me."

If Ryuu didn't care about self preservation, he would have let out a curse and jumped out of the window. Coming home with a fractured backbone is something his mother would not like to see.

"…Fine." He sighed and promptly shoved the book over, just enough for Kuroko to see its contents.

* * *

"No. It should be 'You're' and not 'Your'."

"What is the difference between the two? They both sound the same."

"Many people keep making the same grammar mistake, 'You're' and 'you' might sound the same but are two different things. 'You're' is you and are combined together into a shorter phrase. An example; you're drunk. You are drunk. For 'your' it's something else entirely. An example; this is your bicycle."

Kuroko nodded at Ryuu's explanation and went to correct his mistake, using an eraser to rub the wrong answer off and replace it with the correct phrasing.

Ryuu watched his seat mate for a moment before speaking up, "I thought we were taught about this in middle school?"

"It slipped my mind, "Kuroko replied, "I tend to mix it up."

He hummed in answer and continued to stare at him. Kuroko is someone Ryuu had not expected from a person and tend to compare this difference with the people in his life. Kuroko is reserved since he mostly kept to himself, he is blunt with his thoughts and opinions, and tends to have this atmosphere of gloom to add to his monotone character.

His bravery is still a troubling matter. Ryuu has no idea whether to be impressed at his bravery or face palm at the sheer stupidity.

Ryuu stopped twirling his mechanical pencil about, a foreboding feeling washed over him when realization sunk into his mind and slammed his pencil against his desk. This time not loud enough to draw the teacher's attention but it did cause Kuroko to stare at him with a tilt of his head.

How the hell did he grow comfortable with Kuroko's presence?

"Is this correct?" Kuroko said, interrupting Ryuu's train of thought for a moment and pushed his book closer for the black haired teen to check.

His eyes skittered across the pages, appreciating that Kuroko's handwriting is not the usual chicken scrawl that most boys would have when writing in their books. How the hell teachers could manage to read it remains a mystery. He found no error in Kuroko's work and sent a nod of approval to the teal haired teen, flicking the book bovver back to the male.

"No errors," he said and tucked a hand under his chin, "I can't believe that you took my shitty lesson to heart."

"It was straight to the point. " Kuroko brushed off the remnants of rubber that came off his eraser, blue eyes that darted from the mess to half lidded golden eyes, "Lacked several more examples but you painted the picture."

Ryuu let out a huff of air, "At least your handwriting isn't the usual chicken scrawl I usually see. Saves me the trouble of trying to decipher your work by myself."

"Thank you Igarashi-san."

A brief moment of silence came between them, both parties allowing their thoughts to drift like cloud in the sky.

"Why choose me?" Ryuu looked at Kuroko, blurting out the question that had been bothering him since class began.

"You're much closer to share books with," Kuroko pointed out.

"There is another person next to you."

"I prefer to be around someone I know."

Ryuu deadpanned, "You only know me for less than a day and I don't think 'almost getting punched in the face' is not something to bond over."

"But I don't know the person seated next to me which makes it quite strange if I suddenly approach them, "Kuroko retorted, "But I know your name thus making me slightly familiar to you."

"….You're strange, you know that?"

"The same can be said to you."

The corners of Ryuu's lips twitched upwards just slightly, "Touché Kuroko-kun."

* * *

 **The ending seems rushed in my opinion. Ahhh I want to cry (might edit this chapter in the future).  
**

 **Leave a review!**


	3. Middle ground

**I wondered if I'm pacing Ryuu and Kuroko's friendship development properly.**

 **Also I'm really behind on my writing schedule.**

 **((I'm so sorry))**

* * *

It had been almost a week –five days to be exact– when they first met. Kuroko continued to hang around him like a shadow, content to stay out of his way at times until he called attention to himself.

Ryuu, despite his early distaste towards Kuroko, quickly found himself adapted to having the male around as company but tends to feel agitated when the teal haired teen disappears from line of sight especially when he could feel eyes staring intently at his back when the black haired teen is distracted.

It reminded him the times where people were willing to stab the male in the back. He made a lot of enemies in middle school. There was no fault for Ryuu to feel overly cautious about his surroundings, it made him more aware of everything around him.

Even with their estrange relationship, it did not mean they were friends unless Kuroko saw the two of them as friends but Ryuu would deny the fact quickly as it came up. While they were not friends, they were not considered to be strangers.

Just companions.

He viewed their relationship to be mutualistic symbolic. He gained something from Kuroko and the latter from him.

"How did you get Y?"

Ryuu continued to stare out the window, watching the early signs of spring appearing as if he had not heard the question. He knew what Kuroko is asking him which involve a certain math homework they were supposed to complete two days ago.

For a moment he thoughts about ignoring the teal haired male but thought against it if Kuroko decided to catch his attention using an unorthodox manner.

Like shoving a kinf– correction, a _mechanical pencil_ into his side.

It felt like a knife to be honest.

"It's a simultaneous equation. Find X before you get Y." He answered back, not turning to see a hint of confusion flicker through Kuroko's eyes at the teal haired male gazed back down at his work.

His lips parted open and after a moment of hesitation, Kuroko spoke once more.

"….Is the number two for Y the correct answer?"

Ryuu's gold colored eyes narrowed slightly and moved over from the tree he had been staring outside to stare at Kuroko's reflection on the window. The latter staring at Ryuu's head expectedly, unaware the black haired teen had his sights on him.

The former delinquent slowly turned his head to face Kuroko with a sour expression on his face, eyes squinted as if disbelieving.

"What did you get for X?" He asked slowly because the only way to get Y correct was to get X correct–

"One."

–and he should have seen that coming.

"Give me that,"Ryuu turned back and snatched Kuroko's book, the one the male had been writing in, off the table and scrutinize the equation to find what had went wrong.

It wasn't long for Ryuu to spot the error if one such as himself were careful with their numbers. It was a careless mistake on Kuroko's part since he should have made the positive to a negative after making a jump.

The teal haired male would have breezed through the question without resistance whatsoever if he had been ever so careful.

The word 'if' being stressed.

He took his own mechanical pencil from his bag and circled the mistake before handing it over to the teal haired teen to correct his own mistake, "You were careless."

Kuroko gingerly took his book back and scanned through the equation where true to Ryuu's words, he had made a careless mistake. He made a mental note to prevent repeating the same mistake during the exams. Briefly he wondered how Ryuu was able to pick up the mistake quick as he solved the mistake and how deep Ryuu's intellect would go.

It was bias for Kuroko to think that Ryuu, being a delinquent, have terrible grades since he barely knew the male aside from the basics. From what he knew back in middle school, they tend to get failing grades for missing classes thus his surprise when Ryuu shattered those expectations.

"You're smart, Igarashi-san. Compared to other delinquents I know of." His eyes went shifty when a face popped up into his mind and roughly shoved the thought out of his mind, "They had average or below average grades but I'm assuming you have above average grades from how you did this flawlessly."

Ryuu let out a snort, "I'm not a buffoon like them. Cheating on test or causing mayhem is not what _I_ do in school. Sometimes I skip classes but I still attend to most of them at least."

He did not add that he had to threaten to break his acquaintances legs if he failed his exams.

Ryuu became a delinquent on impulse due to his terrible anger management as a young teen. It was also because of circumstances that lead up to that point.

When he first enrolled into middle school, a couple of seniors had taken to offense when Ryuu interrupted their conversation rudely and perceived the annoyed look on his face as a challenge to their authority when truly Ryuu had been irritated with them for ignoring his polite pleas and had no choice but to be forceful with his inquiry.

They began taunting him from a distance with insults and constant jabs to his pride. Ryuu ignored their actions because dealing with them head on is only giving him a headache when they won't listen to his demands, instead he threw himself to books as a distraction.

Until one day when they confronted him instead of going on with their normal routine to throw insults, it became physical and he just snapped.

He socked them in the face in a fit of hot white fury, snarling at them like a feral animal and from there on out delinquents began lining up to challenge him after hearing his explosive performance for the spot at the very top and Ryuu took the liberty for beating everyone black and blue for stepping in his way.

It also proved to be a great way to vent out his anger and pass time when feeling quite frustrated to do anything but study. Eventually he stood above them with an infamous title to his name.

Despite being preoccupied with a troublesome social life, Ryuu made time to study and get his grades up.

The only thing left was to avoid getting arrested by the police during turf wars and getting his sorry ass expelled for being caught.

There had been several instances when he had been almost caught by the authority but as an indirect result. He recalled one member underneath his rule being the focus of the police attention during a patrol and the idiot had lead them back to Ryuu. The saving grace of his on that day was that he did not remotely looked like a punk dressed in nice clothes and was holding food he bought for his mother.

The black haired teen felt the corner of his lips twitched upwards slightly. A breeze of cool air caressing his face when one of the students lingering near the windows threw one open to shout down a greeting at their friend.

The cooling effect made the male feeling utterly relaxed, that the small smile appearing on his face came as second nature.

"Well…" Kuroko began, "Thank you for the help."

"No problem."

With that they lapsed into a relaxed silence the two shared, the former awkwardness that used to be present days ago gone without any evidence left.

"….."

"….."

"Could you check my answers if I got them wrong?"

Ryuu shook his head and felt amused rather than irritated when the teal haired teen needed help with his work. He decided to supervise Kuroko's work.

The task is not unfamiliar to Ryuu as he had acted as a tutor in middle school, helping his former gang members with their school work when they can't stand sitting in class for more than an hour and adapted a 'just-wing-it' attitude which lead them to score badly in their exams.

It's not like Ryuu had anything to do aside from staring out the window while waiting for homeroom to start.

Without having to stand up from his seat, Ryuu maneuvered his body around until the male faced Kuroko with his chest pressed against the head of his chair and his own pencil in hand.

"Well–" The teen rolled his shoulders, straightening the kink he felt between his shoulder blades due to bad sitting posture and tugged Kuroko's notebook closer to him, "Let's get this done and over with before Sensei comes around for homeroom."

Kuroko made no visible reaction for Ryuu's sudden willingness to up and help him. Not that he was complaining about the help since he had skipped several questions that had left his thoughts in shambles when trying to determine if he did it correctly or not.

He blinked owlishly at Ryuu, watching as the male go through all his work with focus written on his features and press the blunt end of his mechanical pencil against his lips. Golden eyes focused intently on the book before him and unaware of blue eyes watching him.

Such strange eye coloring, Kuroko mused to himself but then again says the person with bright hair.

Somewhat the golden eye color is befitting to Ryuu. Like his name; a dragon. Eyes of gold and a temper to flare. Calculative and calm but looking underneath the underneath, a beast roams in darkness. Ready to lash out when threaten.

"Are you listening, Kuroko?" Ryuu's voice disrupt his train of thought causing the male to slowly blink at the black haired teen, the latter staring at Kuroko with a raised eyebrow.

How peculiar.

"Yeah." He breathed out.

* * *

When break rolled around, Ryuu wanted to stretch his legs and leave the classroom for a more favorable place to relax. A place far from the loud chattering students.

The male stretched his arms about his head like a cat uncurling and stretching out after a short cat nap. He let out a small yawn, rubbing away a tear that gathered at the corner of his eye as he watched a handful of students leave the class while a small number stayed behind to either catch up with their friends, do their homework or pull out their lunches they had brought from home.

The black haired teen shot their lunches a longing glance, regretting to pick up his own homemade lunch made by his mother that was left on the kitchen counter. In his haste to catch the bus, he forgot to take it with him.

Ryuu tore his gaze away and rummage through his bag, grasping the three cartoon drinks he usually store on impulse. Maybe he could fill himself up with drinks instead of buying food from the cafeteria.

He wondered if he could use the rooftop, as cliché as it sounds, since the rooftop is quite a relaxing place to be at. Not many students would go to the rooftop especially during a specific season.

Summer is the worst time to be. Just standing under the smoldering hot sun for less than three minutes could already leave a person drench in their own sweat to keep cool. Having a sunburn does not do wonders to the skin.

Autumn is generally cold and wet. No one wants to get their socks wet.

Winter makes the locks on the doors to jam or freeze over completely which left spring to be the perfect season. It might be cold but around late spring it would be a bit warmer, the perfect time to be on the rooftop either to eat their food or in Ryuu's case to lie on his back and watch the cloud pass on by.

Ryuu stood up from his seat, cradling the two juice boxes close to his chest while he held the third one with his other hand and mentally decided to head to the rooftop. He recalled seeing a sign from his short trip walking around the school to familiarize himself.

If he was lucky, he could snag a secluded spot for himself before the others students have the same idea to do the same.

His small commotion drew Kuroko's attention up to the teen.

The teal haired teen peered over his book, staring at his seat mate with a small tilt of his head, "Where are you going?"

"Out." Was Ryuu's short answer, "Why ask?"

Blank eyes stared up at him with nothing but mild curiosity while Ryuu's eyes searched his face. Nothing gave away what Kuroko was thinking.

"Simply curious," He said softly, breaking eye contact with Ryuu and flipped to a new page in his book. With that he returned to his reading, nose buried back into the book and eyes skirting across the pages.

The black haired teen stared longer at his enigmatic friend as he rolled the straw he had been sucking on between his teeth before turning away, stalking towards the doors and left the classroom for some time alone.

Yet the thought of the male lingered on his mind as Ryuu made his way towards the staircase, barely acknowledging anyone as his thoughts drift.

He could not decide if it was an annoyance or not.

"Weirdo." Ryuu mumbled under his breath.

It remains to be seen of whom he was referring to.

* * *

 **Do you think I paced the development properly? I feel like I rushed it to be honest.**

 **Leave a review!**


	4. Catalyst

**Honestly I'm not really sure how well I did when transitioning from one scene to another.  
**

 **I'm hope this chapter is to your liking.  
**

 **((I'm screaming inside))**

* * *

"Is this going to be a regular thing?"

"In a way. To answer your question; yes." Kuroko answered as he arranged together a small but reasonably thick stack of paper together by tapping one end of it onto the table before setting it to the side. He snapped his gaze back over to the black haired teen beside him.

"Until sensei can distribute the next shipping of textbooks she ordered for us, most of us will be sharing textbooks with our first assignment partner," He added.

Ryuu scowled at the teal haired male as he furiously rubbed his eraser of a large pencil streak that ran from one corner of a page to the other which was made in one fluid movement despite the action being accidental.

He grumbled under his breath, expressing his distaste. "Warn a guy will you? My heart dropped for a moment."

He missed a glint of amusement appearing in Kuroko's gaze, preoccupied with cleaning up the mess he had unintentionally made and trying to slow down his rapidly beating heart.

Kuroko's sudden appearance had taken him by surprise. The latter somehow decided to join their tables together like the first time they had language class without giving Ryuu any heads up of his plan beforehand until the very last minute. Ryuu decided not to mention that he had almost stabbed Kuroko in the hand with a mechanical pencil he had been holding.

The black haired teen glowered whilst glaring holes into his notebook, the heat from his glare could be well enough combust into flames if he could, all the while muttering empty death threats under his breath.

Once he was done Ryuu closed his eyes, resisting the temptation to pinch the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath before exhaling. He was going to see more white in his black hair and likely have some years of his life shaved off because of the scare.

"I should invest on getting a bell," He mumbled to himself, not knowing that Kuroko had heard his words.

"A bell?" Kuroko inquired curiously, dragging Ryuu back into reality.

The black haired teen grinned, amused at the fleeting thought that came into mind. "You know those type of bell people put on their cats? That type of bell. Makes it easier for me to tell if you're around or not especially with that nasty habit of yours to suddenly disappear."

Kuroko stared at him, "I'm not a cat."

Ryuu opened his mouth to retort but an image of Kuroko as a cat came into mind. He imagined a blue cat with Kuroko's eyes staring blankly at him, one paw outstretched towards a glass of water set beside him. He can see cat Kuroko pushing the glass of water over the edge regardless of the mess he made. Kuroko could be that type of cat.

A little shit but yet in the same breath, endearing.

He coughed into his hands, hiding a snort threatening to leave his lips much to Kuroko's confusion. Upon noticing the look he is receiving, the black haired teen dismissed the matter with a simple wave of his hand and returned to his book just as their teacher came up to the front.

Unfortunately the idea of cat Kuroko (being a little shit) lingered in his mind and every time Kuroko went to reach his eraser at the top corner of the table, Ryuu fully expected the teal haired teen to flick the eraser away instead.

He had to stop himself from snorting in amusement.

* * *

Hoshino cast the black haired teen a concern look when the boy went into one of those strange coughing fits which concerns her when the black haired teen look flustered. She half tempt to send him off to the infirmary and get some rest.

"Are you sick, Igarashi-kun?"

"No-"Igarashi cleared his throat, still red on the face but waved his hand in dismissal, "Just...just chocked on something."

A teal haired teen frowned at the boy, "You're not supposed to eat in class."

Hoshino flinched when she spotted the other boy, barely stopping herself from flinging her rabbit pencil box at the boy and quickly racked her memory if she ever had a student that fitted his description. She ignored several looks of concern and bewilderment from her students seated closer to her.

"I'm not eating anything, you ass!"

"I don't believe you."

"...I will throw your boney ass out the window, Kuroko-kun."

She decided that Igarashi needed a short break and let him rest for a moment – his face is turning slightly red – before she called him and that teal haired boy out to pay attention.

"Try me."

"I swear to god I will–"

Hoshino nodded to herself, standing by to her decision before turning back to the board.

* * *

When chemistry period rolled around just before break, Ryuu is distracted by the thought of food. Luckily, this time he brought from home made by his mother. Regardless how people would view the fact as childish, Ryuu liked it when his mother cooked for him despite the times he wanted to make it himself but she was adamant to make his food regardless how she can be clumsy in the kitchen or the times it almost sent Ryuu into cardiac arrest just watching her move about in the kitchen.

It was a simple lunch that can be thrown together in forty five minutes or less, depending if the ingredients had been prepared beforehand. Seasoned rice with some appetizers to go with it and if he was feeling that much hungry, he could eat the sandwich packed away in his bag as a snack.

His stomach ached at the thought but he forced himself to focus on something other than the food back in class where his bag is left behind.

"Igarashi-kun, can you take a five pound bag of potatoes from the cafeteria?" His chemistry teacher requested with a smile on her face, pulling him away from his thoughts, "I've already notified the staff to reserve a bag of potatoes for our project. I would gladly go there and collect it myself but I need to set up the apparatus so I need you to collect it. Just mention my name and they will provide you the bag."

Ryuu paused from twirling his pen about and nodded, saying nothing as he slid off his stool and left the laboratory while his classmates began setting up for chemistry class. He didn't complain being picked by the teacher to collect a bag of potatoes since he was one of the few that had nothing to do while their teacher went about collecting her stuff for her presentation. It also provided him a few moments to walk around, stretch his legs a bit after sitting down for hours.

Unknown to most, a silent follower had left the minute Ryuu walked out of the laboratory.

The chemistry teacher took note of another notebook and pencil box laid besides Ryuu's stuff that the boy had left behind. She blinked owlishly at the sight, puzzled that she had probably missed another of her student.

She mentally went through the list of names of her current class but stopped when a student had called her attention away.

"Sensei!" A student called out from behind her.

She shook her head, discarding such thoughts and reassured herself that maybe the student she had missed might have left for the bathroom. Some students had the habit of going to the toilet before arriving at her laboratory. It's likely that the student had asked Ryuu to take care of their things which explained a lot.

With a soft laugh leaving her lips, she turned on her heel and aided the student that had called her attention.

* * *

Ryuu walked down the quiet hallways, taking his time to enjoy the short period of solitude provided to him before adding some strength behind his steps, picking up the pace as his legs took him straight to the direction of the cafeteria. While the male had yet to buy anything from the cafeteria, he took the time to memorize Seirin's layout for future reference.

The hallways were empty for the occasional teacher leaving a classroom. No students aside from him and his 'stalker' are lingering about in the hallways.

Had Ryuu not listen to the footsteps following him, he wouldn't have come to realize that the second person was Kuroko. It did help that Ryuu expected the teal haired male to pull something like that.

The black haired teen stopped at the foot of the staircase and let out a sigh, He had given Kuroko time to reveal himself (he had to brace himself for a scare) and give a legitimate reason why the teen thought it would be a good idea to follow him on his task when the teacher had only requested him, instead of being a good boy and sit in the laboratory like a good student he is.

It's not that his presence is irritating. It was at first but Ryuu grown accustomed to Kuroko and if he were to be honest about it; Kuroko's silence is enjoyable at times.

There is no pressure for the both of them to fill the silence between save for several occasions (read; being annoyed the fuck out of him and his temper flaring like a dynamite).

Rather he feels so much better if Kuroko decided to make himself known and walk _besides_ him instead of _behind_ him unless risk their first encounter from occurring once more.

"Kuroko-kun." He began loudly, not turning to find Kuroko. "Just walk beside me will you? I feel like I have a stalker following me instead."

He waited for a reply but after a moment there was no answer.

Slightly irritated that Kuroko might had left him talking to air like an idiot, the black haired male shoved his hands into his pockets and began stomping down the stairs angrily. If one student were present to see Ryuu's foul mood, they would have jumped several steps and risk having to strain their ankles just to avoid from having to be the focus of his ire.

"You might fall if you walk like that," Kuroko appeared by his side, startling Ryuu with his sudden appearance.

"MOTHERFUC–"Ryuu stopped short and took a deep breath because screaming obscenities will do nothing but attract unwanted attention. He debated between throwing himself down the stairs or throw Kuroko down the stair and make it seem like an accident because he is one hundred percent done with Kuroko's disappearing act.

"That's called homicide," Kuroko inquired.

The black haired teen blinked before realizing he had spoken his thoughts out loud.

"It's not homicide when it's an 'accident', right?" He wolfishly grinned at the shorter teen.

Kuroko remained unfazed by the grin and simply stared back. "Still homicide."

"Not if I can stage it to be an accident." Ryuu replied before diverting the topic away from dead bodies and murder. He was certain that if the topic continued on the same track, Kuroko would question how he knew such information on how to frame murder as suicide. The internet has many aspiring writers finding information for their original stories and most swear that searching how to clean up blood is part of their research. "Let's hurry up and grab the bag before sensei decided that we skipped her class."

Kuroko nodded in reply and waited.

Ryuu stared.

He stared back.

"What are you doing?"

"Waiting for you." Replied Kuroko.

The black haired teen arched an eyebrow at the other but decided not to retort. With a short sigh leaving his lips, Ryuu reached his hand forward making a grab for Kuroko but hesitated at the last moment. For a split second he stood on the fence weather to do it or not, pull Kuroko with him or dismiss the boy once more. His fingers curled around Kuroko's wrist before his mind caught up with the act and by the time he realized what he had done, he tugged Kuroko closer.

"Well then," He began softly, surprise that his body acted on its own. He dared not to look at Kuroko in the eye and turned his back to the teal haired teen, "Let's get going."

Surprising enough Kuroko did not pull his arm away or made a comment about it.

They walked down empty hallways with Ryuu pulling Kuroko along, the former feeling Kuroko's pulse under his fingertips and the latter feeling the warmth from Ryuu's fingers warped around his wrist.

A reminder that while the hallways are empty, they weren't alone.

* * *

Ryuu received a toothy smile once the hand off was made to which he returned albeit reluctantly as he tucked the five pound bag of potatoes under his arm while keeping an eye on Kuroko whom peered into the kitchen curiously.

"I'm sorry for the trouble!" The old lady that made the handoff said with her hands clasped together in front of her, "We were busy and it took time finding it."

"Its fine, "Ryuu replied with a wave of his hand, "Thank you for your time. Sensei will be happy to know that she got her bag of potatoes for chemistry."

The corner of her eyes crinkled as the smile on her lips stretched, "Such a nice boy you are. Head on now before you get in trouble."

He nodded in reply, fighting down a blush threatening to appear on his cheeks and gave her a slight bow before walking over to Kuroko. He hooked a finger on the collar of Kuroko's jacket and pulled hard, dragged the teen away, ignoring protest coming from the teal haired teen until they were back into the building.

"C'mon. I just want to get this over with." Ryuu mumbled as they made their way back with the package on hand. He unhooked his finger from Kuroko's collar with a warning not to wander off and watched the shorter teen at the corner of his eyes as they retraced their steps back to the laboratory.

As Ryuu placed a hand over the stair railing, just as he was about to start climbing, the teen pulled his hand away with a disgust look on his face. Someone had the audacity to put a used chewing gum on the stair railing. A shiver went down his spine when felt the chewed chewing up made a sound and to make matters worse, it was still wet with someone's saliva.

He made a noise at the back of his throat, too disgust to describe the feeling. The sound he made caused Kuroko to turn towards the male with a small tilt of his head. The teal haired male barely opened his mouth to question Ryuu but was cut short when a bag of potatoes were shoved into his chest.

"Hold it." Ryuu ordered between gritted teeth, his tone deterred Kuroko from disobeying. He accepted the bag and trailed after the black haired teen who began stomping his way in a different direction.

"Where are you going?" the teal haired teen questioned.

He got a sharp reply, noting anger in Ryuu's tone. "The toilet."

Ryuu kicked open the toilet door, ignoring Kuroko's scolding behind him and made a beeline towards the sink where three students were lounging around. It didn't take much for him to recognize that the students were delaying their time in the toilet, hoping to skip at least several minutes before their class ends.

They jumped up, startled by the noise when Ryuu barged in. They were panicked at first, assuming it had been their teachers checking up on them but when their gaze landed on the black haired teen, slight annoyance appeared on their features. One glared at him with accusing eyes as if he was the bane of their existence to which Ryuu returned with equal vigor. The black haired teen is already angry at the idiot who was lazy to dispose their food properly and the teen was provoking him to attack. He reacted accordingly.

The teen recoiled back as if he was struck in the face before scrambling out of the way, letting Ryuu gain access to the sink he had been leaning on. Grumbling under his breath, he turned on the water faucet and began scrubbing his hands until they were raw or until the feeling of disgust went away.

He ignored the soft whispers being shared by the trio behind him, giving not a single fuck about what the boys were discussing about.

"Why are you not in class?"

Hearing Kuroko's voice reminded Ryuu that the teal haired teen was around, having to yet leave his side. He had forgotten about him for a moment. He looked up from the sink and caught a flash of blue in the mirror, his heart jumped for a moment before his gaze landed on Kuroko's form, the teal haired teen standing just before the trio. By comparison they tower over him with their height.

That did not help that Kuroko decided to hold the bag of potatoes like one does with a toy or doll.

The trio let out a yell of surprise, backing away from Kuroko once they noticed that the teen was standing before them while failing their arms about wildly. The three went into different directions while still yelling at the top of their lungs. One headed straight for the doors, the second went to the other side of the toilet in hopes that he could put some distance between them while the last one headed straight for Ryuu, not knowing the black haired male stood in his way.

The teen crashed into Ryuu who stumbled forward due to the force when the former had back peddled away from Kuroko. Ryuu had to throw his arms up to stabilize both himself and the teen that had collided into him by placing his hands on the mirror in front of him. His wet hands made the job trickier but he managed to hold up.

A loud crack resonated in the bathroom followed by the sounds of glass shattering, the sound ceased the trio from screaming but it also drew all attention from the occupants to stare at the source of the noise.

Ryuu stared at his left hand, watching as the cuts made by the shattered pieces from the mirror began to bleed. Rivulets of blood trailing down his skin before landing into the sink where the running faucet washed it away.

He stood frozen just like everyone else, his mind blank that no coherent thought came into mind.

"Oh shit." The teen that had made a dash to the door cursed out loud before scrambling out of the bathroom with his friends, leaving Ryuu and Kuroko to deal with the mess. The noise that they had made earlier might have called attention from nearby teachers and there was no way that they wanted to be caught in the aftermath.

"Igarashi-kun."

Red blood rolled down his skin.

"Igarashi-kun."

His cuts began to sting.

"Igarashi-kun."

Ryuu reached for a small mirror shard stuck in his skin, ready to pull it out but his hand was slapped away by another hand, deterring the teen from touching the shard.

" _Ryuu_."

At the sound of his name, it jolted the black haired teen from his frozen stupor to looked up at the caller and found himself staring into blue eyes.

Kuroko gingerly grabbed Ryuu's injured hand while maintaining eye contact with the teen, blandly ignoring the blood staining his fingers and used a white handkerchief he had pulled out from his pocket to stop the bleeding. He made sure that Ryuu had a grip on the cloth, applying a small amount of pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding before they reached help.

Kuroko tighten the knot he made, satisfied with his work before pulling Ryuu by the shirt and ushered the black haired teen to the infirmary. The bag of potatoes they were supposed to bring was left forgotten on the bathroom floor.

* * *

Ryuu bowed down repeatedly, words of apology spewing past his lips while the teacher continued to frown at him. He grimaced at the severe scolding he got for getting himself injured. In all honesty the wound he got was nothing like the wound he got from middle school but he made no mention of it to Hoshino-sensei.

"I'm sorry, sensei." Ryuu mumbled softly, hoping to appease his upset teacher. The petite women before him was someone to not trifle with if one were careless enough to force her hand despite her adoration to rabbits. She has the determination and will fight back with everything she got.

All her anger melted away at his words, leaving behind a tired and concern women in its wake. Ryuu pursed his lips together when the sight reminded him of his mother and felt a stab of guilt to his chest.

"Understand that you nearly gave us all a fright when Kuroko-kun told us that you got injured," She said, "Had your injury been worse than it should have, we would have to call the ambulance."

Her eyes flickered to his bandaged hand where the glass shards had dug into his skin, creating long shallow cuts but repairable enough to be dealt in the infirmary. He followed her line of sight and tugged his sleeve lower to hide the bandages; a futile effort as his fingers were also wrapped in bandages and his sleeves could not hide them from sight.

Ryuu bowed to his teacher, "I'm sorry sensei."

The women sighed, "We had no choice but to call your mother–"

His heart dropped.

"Don't!" Ryuu hastily interrupted, standing up straight and stared pleadingly at his homeroom teacher.

He can't have his mother drop out from work for a son that did nothing but cause her troubles. His flaws shadowing his good characteristic.

It was bad enough that his mother had to work overtime to fund for his school, putting his wellbeing and happiness before her own. He had seen her come home with dark bags underneath her eyes, so tired to the bone that most of the time coming home from work she would sleep on the coach than in her bed. He did not want to put more stain on both her physically and emotionally with the problems he can deal with.

It was his mess.

His homeroom teacher shot him a weird look and he gulped, trying to form a legitimate reason to why his mother cannot know about his injury.

"I–"he began shakily, "I can't have her know about this. She cannot know about this."

Her eyes soften, either from understanding or concern, Ryuu could not tell. "I'm sorry Igarashi-kun but you had gotten injured on school premises with injuries that could have landed you in the hospital. Your mother has the **right** to know the wellbeing of her _only_ child."

Ryuu diverted his gaze away from his teacher, stubbornly staring at anything but the women before him once realizing the effect of her words. He let out a resigned sigh, she was right, his mother has every right to worry about him.

"Your mother will come to school to pick you up. Until then grab your bag and wait in the infirmary." His homeroom teacher ordered to which he complied without any complaint. He gave one last bow to his teacher before turning on his heel and left the faculty office.

"How's your hand?"

Golden eyes flickered to the side, seeing nothing for a moment before seeing blue. Ryuu moved his gaze away from Kuroko to stare at his bandaged hand. He flexed it, feeling the cuts sting under the bandages wrapped tightly around it before dropping his hand.

"I thought you left." Ryuu noted, seeing Kuroko standing beside the faculty door likely waiting for him to come out since the teal haired teen had been shooed away by the nurse after telling the startled young lady the story to Ryuu's injuries.

"I didn't." A pause. "You didn't answer my question."

"Fine." He replied, "Hurts but its fine."

Kuroko kept his gaze trained on the bandaged hand before meeting Ryuu's gaze. "Are you going to the hospital?"

The black haired teen shrugged his shoulders, choosing to not answer and began navigating through the crowd of students that left their class for break. He showed no weakness, letting his hand lay limp on his side instead of cradling it to his chest. Several onlookers stared at his bandaged hands, talking in hush tones to their friends by theorizing how the male had gotten his wound.

Rumors flew over Ryuu's head to which he ignored, being preoccupied with the thought of his enraged mother storming the school gates to throttle her reckless son.

Reaching class in less than a few minutes, the black haired teen made a beeline for his table and began shoving all his stuff into his bag. In his haste, his pen rolled off the table and landed on the ground near his foot which the teen had not took notice of.

It was until he had slung his bag over his shoulder, someone jab him between his ribcage. A curse left Ryuu's lips, taken aback by the sudden but very familiar assault to his ribs.

"What the fuck?!" he exclaimed, earning several disapproving stares from his female classmates but he ignored them for one particular student. "Kuroko-kun!"

Kuroko held out a pen right before Ryuu's face, "You forgot this." He said.

"You could had given it to me properly instead of that...unorthodox method."

"I did. You just ignored me."

Ryuu let out a grunt and snatched the pen from the other teen, shoving it into his pocket where his fingers brush against something foreign. He paused, allowing his fingers to run over the strange fabric that is not part of his pants and furrowed his eyebrows together. Grabbing the strange object between his index finger and thumb, he pulled it out and blinked.

Hanging between his fingers was a white handkerchief stained with blood that began to dry. Blotches of brown patches were seen and it was then Ryuu realized the handkerchief had belong to Kuroko who used it to stop his bleeding.

"O-oh." Ryuu stammered, "I didn't mean to take this or stain it."

Kuroko dismissed it with a wave of his hand, "Its fine."

"I'll clean it before returning it to you." Ryuu folded the bloodstained handkerchief and pocketed it, "Sorry about that."

"I can give you my number so if I forgot, you can remind me." Kuroko offered, "You have a phone right?"

"Well yeah–"A slip of paper was thrust into his face, with one quick glance he could read a phone number written on the paper. Both surprised and speechless, Ryu took the paper and shoved it into his pocket. "That was quick."

"I thought beforehand."

"Igarashi Ryuu?" a student called from the doorway, peering inside nervously to see the person they had been ask to search for. Ryuu raised his bandaged hand up indicating he had heard the person that called his name. The female student that had been sent to fetch him let out a terrified squeak and had hid herself behind the door before peering out to stare fearfully at him. Several students shot her a look of sympathy.

"See you another day, you weirdo." Ryuu clapped Kuroko on the shoulder and made his way forward.

He received a soft reply. "Take care, Igarashi-kun."

* * *

Kuroko let out a breath he was holding and threw an arm over his eyes, allowing sleep to pull on his conscious. Having done his homework and complete his nightly routine, the teal haired teen could finally sink into his bed and sleep.

In the silence of his dark room, his phone began to vibrate on his bedside table.

He made a gurgling sound at the back of his throat, slightly annoyed that the tranquil atmosphere of his room is interrupted by his phone and made a blind grab for it.

It took several tries before his phone is in his grasp.

He looked at the notification, squinting when an unfamiliar number greeted his sight before unlocking his phone to check the message that had been sent by the unfamiliar number.

 _'Thank you.'_

A small smile appeared on his lips once his head had made the connection and a feeling of warmth blossomed in his chest. He tapped on the number and made it one of his contacts before sending a short message to the person.

 _'You're welcome, Igarashi-kun.'_

* * *

 **Hoshino is their homeroom teacher. The one that likes rabbits. A lot.**

 **Hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Leave a vote and a comment!** _  
_

 **My opinion/thoughts about this chapter (in case you're wondering what the heck just happened):  
**

 **It's development between Ryuu and Kuroko. Ryuu slowly grows attached to Kuroko like how Kuroko grows more attached to Ryuu. A friendship - a solid friendship where both parties _properly acknowledge_ each other compared to their interactions in previous chapters- is made. (I dropped enough scenes of those two like Ryuu willingly reach out to Kuroko and thanking him or Kuroko looking out for Ryuu when he got hurt.)**

 **((On another note; I dropped a hint that will foreshadow Ryuu's character development in future chapters C: I feel so sneaky.))**


	5. Tiger and Dragon

**The entire time I was writing this chapter, I cant help but think of Toradora.**

 **I'm also laughing at the slight parallels.  
**

* * *

"Hey, did you hear?"

"Aika-chan! You scared me!"

"Sorry about that but did you hear?"

"Hear what?"

"The delinquent!"

"You mean the scary one that sits near the window?"

"Not too loud but yeah, that one! I heard he got into a fight the other day in the bathroom with some of the boys from the other class."

The two girls conversing near his table continued to talk, bringing up rumors or news they heard from the others and shared said mentioned information with their friends that had join into their conversation.

Not far to the right, a group of boys huddled together into a measly circle, their supposed private discussion is easily overheard by others considering he could hear them talk. They weren't exactly being discreet with it either.

"Oh shit man. Is that the reason why Jiro got three months detention and a week of suspension?"

"Damn. I wouldn't be on the wrong side of Igarashi Ryuu."

Kuroko kept his gaze down, focused on his mobile phone he had placed into the drawer of his table as he patiently waited for a certain message. He tapped a finger over the page of his pocket sized novel, currently in no mood to read the words present before him. His attention is on one thing.

Using one free hand, he tapped on a button on his phone and went into his messages.

 _'Rumors going abt. Worried?'_

He sighed as he reread the message he sent just moments go. Kuroko wondered if he had been too direct with his delivery in his message considering that he might had annoyed or ticked Ryuu off seeing as the time interval since he last sent that message began to grow longer and the black haired teen decided to not answer back in retaliation.

He checked again.

No reply.

Another sigh left his lips before he allow his hand to drop onto his lap. Just as he was about to indulge himself into his book, his phone went off with a soft 'ping'.

 _'tbh I could careless of rumors spread abt. I expect that shit anyway when I enrolled. Eventually it would die down.'_

Kuroko tapped on a button and cast a look at the clock on his phone before typing down his reply.

' _Are you going to schl?_ ' he typed down.

He is curious to know if the black haired teen would face his peers after the disastrous incident that had gotten his hand badly cut or would take a day off from school to heal since after all, his wounds were not something to laugh at.

A reply came quick.

' _Duh. Now off the phone. I'm at the gates right now. I won't reply the next txt you send me after this._ '

Another message.

' _I'm serious._ '

The corners of his lips twitched upwards as the teen stash away his phone, placing it on silent as a cautionary measure before he returned back to his reading.

It was much easier to focus on the words now.

The commotion around him dulled into a hum at the back of his mind as he concentrated on his book. Images and imaginary scenes conjuring up in his head as he continued to read word by words, Kuroko is engrossed in his reading to pay any mind to his surroundings. It was only when a bandaged finger tipped his book backwards, it snapped him out of his stupor and his concentration wavered. He trailed his gaze up the finger and followed the hand that belonged to a certain person.

Ryuu quirked an eyebrow at the teal haired teen as he stood there with his bag slung over his shoulder, his black hair a mess as if he tried to comb it with his fingers but frankly that's how the male looked like most of the time. It's not that Kuroko is saying that Ryuu look like a horrible mess, far from it actually. He would admit that it has a certain type of appeal that only the black haired teen could pull off.

If someone tried to mimic the look, they would certainly fail and those who can pull the look off, it won't exactly match Ryuu's appeal.

"Hey."Ryuu greeted awkwardly as he retracted his bandaged hand away from the book.

Blue eyes followed the movement as long bandaged fingers tugged in the black fabric of their school jacket before disappearing into the pockets of their uniform slacks.

Kuroko briefly recalled the thick callous on Ryuu's hands as his own fingertips brushed over the thick skin as he worked to wrap his handkerchief around the bleeding lacerations. The work Ryuu might have done. The fights that the black haired teen participated in the past.

He tore his gaze away to avoid the awkward confrontation to why he was staring if Ryuu had caught him and instead gave a slight nod in greeting. "Good morning."

They fell into silence, both parties not knowing what to say to fill in the gap between them. Usually it would be something random like Ryuu going on whatever came off the top of his head or Kuroko stating out the obvious. At times they would talk about their school work when they are paired of together. It shouldn't be strange for them to fall into uncomfortable since that surrounds them but this was the first time they talked faced to face after the incident that occurred yesterday.

They sent text messages to one another but it's the usual 'how are you' or 'I'm fine'. Nothing compared to their vocal conversations.

"How's the hand?" Kuroko asked after a while, eying the bandaged hand that hid from view.

Ryuu pulled his hand out and made a fist by curling his fingers inwards. "Nothing serious." He said, "Just needed to apply some disinfectants to avoid any infections."

Kuroko noted that Ryuu barely winced at the pain as he effortlessly made a fist. His hand should be stinging from the lacerations he received but he barely showed ant sign of discomfort other than the fact he wanted to hide the bandages from public view.

Kuroko nodded, "That's good."

"Before I forget," Ryuu duh into his bag and pulled out a white handkerchief that is neatly folded into a square for conventional means of storage. He forked it over to Kuroko and upon closer inspection, the teen recognize the white handkerchief to be his. The one he lent to Ryuu the day before. "Here."

Kuroko gingerly took the clean handkerchief into his hand, noting that there was no stain left behind. Not even the evidence of dried blood was left behind. He took a mental note about asking what cleaning product Ryuu had used to remove the stain.

It worked wonders.

He blinked when he ran a finger over the fabric, feeling it much softer under his fingertips.

"It's soft." He noted.

A faint blush could be seen on Ryuu's face as he kept his gaze on the white handkerchief instead of meeting Kuroko's curious gaze. "Blood is not easy to clean off," He replied, "Especially on white fabric which by the way makes me wonder why you chose the color white for your handkerchief."

Something in the air changed. It felt lighter somewhat compared to the before.

"It was on sale," Kuroko mentioned, "I have several like these."

The corner of Ryuu's lips twitched upwards. "Weirdo."

It was not antagonizing as one presumes when Ryuu had said it. The tone is much lighter, less tense and carried no heat. How the black haired teen said it, it was close to enduring like an owner addressing a troublesome pet they are fond of.

"Good morning class!" Their homeroom teacher chirped, walking to the front with a book in hand and cheerful as ever. Her appearance disrupted the comfortable atmosphere the two created.

Students began walking back to their seats, dragging their chairs from underneath their tables. Kuroko rubbed his ear when one particular student had dragged their chair across the floor to create a loud 'screech' which sent many seated nearby to grind their teeth together and let out a hiss.

Ryuu returned back to his seat but not before sparing a look at Kuroko. The black haired teen settled into his seat all the while ignoring the looks shot as his direction from war classmates that had heard of his feat.

Their classroom teacher cleared her throat once as everyone finally settled. "I see that almost all of you are here," she noted, and as always skipped over Kuroko's presence like everyone else.

He sighed before taking one look over at Ryuu and flinched when he found golden eyes watching him.

Blue clash with gold.

* * *

Ryuu perched his chin on top of his bandaged free hand, barely giving any of his attention to his rambling homeroom teacher at the front. He hid a frown behind his fingers when he felt eyes staring intently at him and it's not the kind of feeling he would get when he caught Kuroko staring.

He was tempt to send a sneer at them to kindly fuck off but at the back his mind, his conscious is telling that acting aggressive towards them would make the problem worse than it already is. Rumors are being spread around the first years like forest fire and eventually the entire student body would have at least heard of him. Acting out would further bury him in a grave that he dug for himself.

Feeling his temper rise, Ryuu took a deep breath before letting it out. He repeated the process several times while staring out of the window to distract himself from the eyes that stared and his temper from further rising.

It worked and slowly his temper lowered down to a controllable level.

"-we have a transfer student today and I hope that you all treat him well," Hoshino said with a smile as everyone began talking in hushed tones, her voice cutting through layers of Ryuu's thought.

The burning sensation of eyes gazing upon his form were gone much to his relief. It raised the hairs on his neck to stand when he felt those gaze on him. Instinct told him to be guarded when his back is turned. Experience told him such and it stuck.

Golden eyes flickered to the front like everyone else. Their homeroom teacher barely flinched under their gaze when all eyes settled on her petite form, simply she allowed her eyes to skirt about with a smile on her face before landing on the towering figure standing next to her. Whispers broke out through the crowd when they took in the sight.

A tall male stood beside their teacher with a bored look on his face but his appearance made it seem that he rather be somewhere else than standing in front. He towered over them all, the difference in height all too obvious when Hoshino stood next to the male with two tone deep dark hair and red eyes. The tall teen emit an intimidating aura and with the glare in his eyes, people can assume that this teen is like Ryuu. The whispers became louder.

Out of all, what drew Ryuu's attention are those eyebrows. One thought course through his mind and the only thing he could focus on at the moment.

 _What are those?!_

Unfortunately while Ryuu stared at those atrocious eyebrows with narrowed eyes, wondering if the tall teen fucked up as a child and shaved his eyebrows off which caused it to grow back as weird as it is, onlookers and the red haired teen found his scrutinizing look to be a look of challenge.

Added to the fact that everyone perceive Ryuu to be a delinquent at first glance save for Kuroko who knew that Ryuu stopped being one, the blank look on his face alone is intimidating enough to scare people into submission. Let alone had they seen him actually enraged enough for him to contemplate homicide.

Ryuu remain unaware that his golden gaze is intimidating as it already is. The frown on his face and his appearance are factors to add to his intimidating appearance.

The red haired teen stiffen under Ryuu's gaze, his lips pinched together into a thin line and his hands that limply laid on his side, clenched into fists. The tall teen stared hard at the former delinquent with a glare of his own when their gaze connected.

Ryuu blinked, baffled by the sudden show of intimidation because he was certain that if the red haired teen held a vendetta against him in middle school year which is unlikely since Ryuu transferred to a high school far away, the former delinquent would have at least remembered meeting the other male. A guy with that height, especially _those_ eyebrows, people like him are not that hard to forget.

With a scowl appearing on his lips, Ryuu raised his head up at the teen, silently taunting him as his unwavering eyes bore into red ones.

He might not know what or why the red haired teen decided to threaten him in a display of dominance but Ryuu's certain that if looks comes to blows, he'll take the guy down even if it means breaking legs. He won't take shit while lying down.

The whispers around them died down, not that Ryuu cared in the first place, as all eyes are on the two intimidating figure that are locked in an intense stare off. Gold and red clash violently against one another.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the next shoe to drop but unlike the students who are waiting for a brawl to occur, Hoshino paid no mind to the tense atmosphere or was oblivious to it. Her body posture revealed no hesitation or fear like the other students that were showing it.

"Introduce yourself," she said to the red haired teen who tilt his head at her direction but kept his eyes locked on Ryuu.

"Kagami Taiga." The teen introduced himself stiffly, "nice to meet you."

Despite Kagami's brief introduction, it did not solve the tense atmosphere they were in.

Hoshino praised the teen before telling him to take a seat at the back, next to Kuroko and very near to Ryuu. Exactly behind the black haired teen. Kagami nodded and made his way over to his assigned seat, keeping his eyes on Ryuu as the distance between them grows smaller.

Those who were unfortunate to be seated near Ryuu felt the temperature around them dropped to several degrees, with bated breaths they watched on warily –prepared both mentally and physically to jump out of the way if a fight actually broke out between the two- as Kagami strode past Ryuu with one final glance before their gaze disconnected.

Ryuu decided that he should have stayed at home, taking up his mother's offer to let his hands heal before returning to class because having some asshole silently challenge him just before first period starts is not what he or anyone had in mind.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire as one might say.

He stopped himself from groaning out in misery or walking out of class while chanting 'fuck this shit', instead dug into his bag and pulled out his notebooks just as class began.

* * *

"Holy shit guys, the 'dragon' and 'tiger' having a glare off."

"That's some intense shit right there."

"I almost expect them to actually fight here in class you know."

"Tone down your voice you dick! They might hear you!"

Kuroko wondered if everyone in his class has some problems when it comes to whispering secrets to one another.

They were trying to be discreet but frankly, they fucked that up as well.

Kuroko brushed away rubber that had been shaven off his eraser before deciding to make little conversation with his seat mate who remained tense throughout the period. Said mentioned teen is tense like a snake coiled up and ready to strike at a moment's notice.

The teal haired teen took precaution to not make any sudden movements let he get decked painfully in the face by a high string male.

He obtained that helpful information from a documentary when dealing with wary animals that are likely to kill you if you suddenly sneeze in their presence.

He patted the black haired teen on the shoulder, eliciting a flinch but the soft groan leaving Ryuu's lips indicate he's aware of his presence.

"Do you know each other?"

"No." Ryuu answered, "The fucker decided to pick a bone with me just like that. Like what the hell, I barely know the asshole."

Kuroko tapped the end of his pencil on the top of his table, creating a random rhythm he heard on the radio during breakfast before he left school. "You're glaring." He noted.

"No, I'm not." Ryuu denied.

The teal haired teen raised an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look when the former delinquent finally tore his gaze away from Kagami's bulky form that's seated in the front with another student like how he and Ryuu joined their tables together like always during language period.

Upon seeing Kuroko's pointed look being caught in his own little lie, the black haired teen turned away and preoccupy himself with his work despite completing his work earlier than Kuroko.

"Shut up." He muttered.

"Okay."

"I'm being serious."

"Okay."

Kuroko didn't believe him.

* * *

"How do you solve this formula?"

Kuroko looked at Ryuu when the black haired teen did not answer or provide any explanation on question seven. He found him glaring at Kagami who remained seated at the front for the day since he is at least a week behind of class.

Again.

"..."

The teal haired teen shook his head, "I thought you were serious."

It was then Ryuu paid heed to him.

"What is it?" he asked.

Kuroko sighed.

* * *

"Do you know what solution you're supposed to pour this in?"

"Psh, yeah I do–"

"No you don't, Igarashi-kun. I saw you glaring."

* * *

 _"Igarashi-kun."_

"What? I'm not glaring at him!"

* * *

The glaring the two intimidating teens shared was enough to scare away most of the students seated near them. Kuroko noted that those students would slowly inch away–even moving their tables during lessons– from the glaring the duo shared when one of them pass each other or made direct eye contact.

Frankly, Kuroko felt the whole thing is just ridiculous, both at his classmate and his unruly friend.

He could definitely see a dragon and a tiger having an intense stare off, growling under their breaths to see who would be the first one to yield under the pressure. It's amusing that while Ryuu is the 'dragon' following his namesake, dragons are supposed to be big and all but Ryuu is the opposite of that. The same could be said for Kagami when placed in a similar situation.

Kuroko kicked Ryuu's leg table, ignoring how Ryuu jumped slightly in his seat and had mange to knock his leg against said table in the process, the black haired teen rest his forehead on top of the table, a pained hiss leaving his lips as hands rubbed the sore area.

"What the fuck, Kuroko?!" Ryuu seethed.

"I wouldn't have done that if you weren't busy staring at your crush." Kuroko replied, flipping through the pages of his textbook.

"One, how dare you and two, you didn't have to kick my fucking table!"

"I would gladly stay out of your love life but we're in class and I can't have you slack off." Kuroko said, ignoring the mutter of 'what are you? My mom?' and settled on the page they were supposed to be on, "You're my lifeline when I can't figure a question out."

"You little shit."

"Likewise, Igarashi-kun." He answered back in a heartbeat, unfazed by the glare Ryuu shot at him, "Can you–"

"Oi."

Both he and Ryuu froze when a third voice joined in their conversation. They crane their heads back, following the direction of the source and found themselves staring at Kagami who looked slightly unsettled as he stared at Ryuu. The tall teen looked ridiculous sitting there due to his large stature, slightly hunch over the table as he does his classwork.

Kuroko is reminded of a purple giant back in middle school before pushing the thought away.

" **What**?" Ryuu snapped.

A flash of anger can be seen through red eyes and if Kuroko was not staring at them intently, he would have missed the fear within them but anger carefully conceal it from prying eyes. Kagami ran a hand through his red hair, sighing heavily under his breath as if he was troubled to choke out his words. He looked like an overgrown adult struggling to communicate with a person.

"Look," He began harshly, visibly gulping when Ryuu's face darken and continued in a much softer tone, "I'm not going to ask if you're insane seeing how you talk to yourself but what's the big deal, huh? What have I ever done to you?"

Ryuu turned his body to fully face Kagami, his body posture turning from relaxed to irritated, "Ha?"

"I don't get what's your business with others but what do you want from me?"

" _Me_?" Ryuu insinuate, pointing to himself as if he was at fault, "What about _you_ asshole? I barely fucking know you and you decided to pick a fight with me? I should be asking instead of you!"

Before Kagami could open his mouth, the teacher in front caught the two of them conversing when it had been strictly stated that conversation is kept to a minimum or risk being sent out of class as a punishment. Their teacher had not been in such a joyful mood seeing the dark look on his face. It's easy to assume that the class before them had somehow manage to get the man livid (The enraged screaming form a few doors down could be heard an hour ago. No one dared to make a peep lest they risk hell upon them).

Luckily, he had missed Kuroko's presence and focused his attention on Ryuu and Kagami.

"You two!" the teacher barked angrily, "Out!"

Ryuu got up his desk and made his way out while Kagami tried to explain to the teacher but was quickly shut down with a dark look. The tall teen followed after Ryuu who stood outside the class, his back turned to them with his hands shoved into his pockets. His entire demeanor showed that the black haired teen is unaffected by the teacher's foul mood.

Kuroko wondered if he should sneak to the front and chaperone the two testosterone high males standing outside.

"I'm sure they'll be fine."

He hoped.

* * *

Ryuu stood next to Kagami with his hands shoved in his pocket and preoccupy himself by staring out the window in front of them, staring at anything that held his interest instead of focusing on the tall teen standing next to him. From the corner of his eyes he could see Kagami glance at him periodically, saying nothing more before turning away.

He turned his head slightly, noting that their teacher had his back turned on the class as the older man wrote something on the board before turning his gaze onto Kagami.

"What do you want?" The black haired teen asked Kagami icily, in a low tone so that his words could not be overheard by extra ears, "The pride I took from you? Do you want to see me fall beneath your feet because of the humiliation? Or did you come here to gloat that I left the game?"

Kagami turned to him, a look of confusion seen on his face. His red eyes flickered to the teacher inside class before returning to meet gold when the coast is clear. "What are you talking about?"

"Don't play pretend." Ryuu hissed.

"Whatever delusion you're living in, I want no part in it." Kagami snapped, "All I want to know is what do you want with me, okay? No need to be a dick about it. I barely know you and I just want to come to class, _learn_ and not feel attacked once I step through it."

Ryuu stared at Kagami, scrutinizing his face for any faults in his word. He found the look in Kagami's eyes genuine and took his words into account. He took a deep breath and let it all out, feeling drained over nothing. He was being an asshole over nothing just like the time he threaten Kuroko when they first met. He shuffled from one foot to another, balling his hands into fist for being a total asshole before turning back to Kagami who have yet to turn away.

He found the red haired teen watching him, waiting for a response.

"We got off on the wrong foot and gave each other bad first impressions, I'm sorry." Ryuu admitted before pulling his hand out towards Kagami, "Igarashi Ryuu."

Surprisingly Kagami took the bandaged hand, sparing it a short glance without any question and allowed his larger hands warp around Ryuu's hand.

"Kagami Taiga." He replied.

"Welcome to Seirin high."

Standing in the middle of an empty hallway with their hands clasp together into a handshake, Ryuu felt that the two of them have shared mutual respect to one another despite such a bad beginning. He won't consider Kagami as a friend, he still has no clue how Kuroko manage to be classified as his friend, but a classmate just like everyone else.

Mutual respect.

Both of them flinch and drew their hands away at the sound of their enrage teacher, "You two! What did I say about talking!? Face forward!"

* * *

 **Eyy I honestly have mixed feelings when I wrote the scene where Kagami and Ryuu confront one another.  
**

 **I see Kagami to be the type to confront people when he has a bone to pick with them, regardless how or where the situation will take him (and in this case, almost got himself beaten up by Ryuu).**

 **Regarding to the Toradora reference, I'm crying. Ryuu is the delinquent but smol and Kagami is the good guy but tall. A complete opposite to the main characters in Toradora where Taiga is smol but a delinquent and Ryuuji is good but hella tall.**


	6. Definition

**This is the shortest chapter I ever wrote for this fic. Usually I would hit 5K words but seems like this chapter word count is less than that.**

* * *

Machiko peered into the dimly lit room, causing light from the hallway to sill inside. Aside from the bright light in the hallway outside the room, the other source would be the table lamp situated on the desk.

She hesitated for a moment, troubled with the idea of disturbing her son. She stood at the door frame for a moment, hearing the sound of pencil moving across paper before steeling her resolve.

"Ryuu?"She called out, eyes taking in the sight of her son's room. Neat and tidy, all the laundry placed in its rightful places and books set on the bookshelf. She allowed her gaze to linger long before turning her attention to the teen seated at the study table, too preoccupied with his work to take note of her entrance especially when she noticed his earbuds shoved into his ears. However he perked up at her voice calling out his name.

Ryuu raised his head up from his work and turned to his mother that had called him from his doorway. His tense features, the furrow in his eyebrows, disappeared when he eyes met his mothers.

"Hmm?" he answered, leaning back against the spine of his chair just to see his mother's face even risk toppling over if his weight is not evenly distributed. Added to the fact, his chair had wheels on them. In the silence, the chair Ryuu sat on creaked under his weight.

Machiko shot him a slight disapproving look, feeling concern that he will topple over but said nothing more.

The black haired teen tilted his head at his mother and took note of her pause, "Is there something wrong, Okaasan?"

She shook her head, a fond smile appearing on her lips as she found his attentiveness and concern to be touching. A lot of mothers would wish for a child to be that attentive especially at the age where their rebellious phase begins, teenagers fighting with their parents at the slightest disagreement either regarding to lifestyle or anything else.

Machiko could not consider herself one of the lucky ones because regardless weather Ryuu would have rebelled against her or not, she knew that her son have his own flaws and she knew herself that she too have her own flaws. She is not saying that Ryuu is perfect and she acknowledge that, she only stood to the side and allow Ryuu to learn and grow, only to intervene when Ryuu needed help and guide him to the right path.

A mother is more than giving birth to a child.

She is there to guide him, watch him experience things for the first time. She is there to kiss his pain away when Ryuu used to scrap his knees and elbows on the ground, be his pillar of support when he is troubled.

"Can I come in?" She asked.

He nodded, "Okay."

Machiko stepped into the room, eyes darting about as she walked deeper before taking a seat on Ryuu's bed where is dipped slightly with the added weight. Her gaze landed on Ryuu's desk where her son had been likely doing his homework before he could retire for the night.

"Did I interrupt you? I can leave if you want me to." Machiko offered.

She had intended to check on him especially after he had injured himself at school, pointedly avoiding to look at his bandaged hands because it made her heart throb painfully at the sight, and maybe have a small chat before retiring for the night herself. She did not expect to interrupt him in his work.

"Its fine," Ryuu replied, closing the note book he had been writing in earlier prior to her entry and pushed it to the side, "I'm finished anyway."

He spared her a smile and rolled his chair closer to his bed. The chair creaked under his weight as he shimmed over to her.

"It's been a few days since you've enrolled into Seirin. Is everything okay there?" Machiko inquired, "Anything interesting?"

Machiko might be a single mother struggling to juggle work and her time with her son but she was no fool to see a slight change in Ryuu's demeanor. If it weren't for her sharp observations then Machiko decided that motherly intuition would be the one to point it out.

For the past few days, Ryuu carried a light atmosphere around him and if she were to name it, it would be 'content'. It was a small change from his usual self, tense and detached from the world like he wanted nothing to do with anyone outside his circle. The change is good, it meant a lot to Machiko no matter how small.

As his mother, it is her right to worry for the welfare of her son, be it emotional or physical. These past few years had been ruff on the boy.

"Nothing from the norm," he replied with a tinge of mirth in his voice and Machiko had to forcefully stop herself from prying further before her excitement gets the better of her, "Aside from Kuroko-san." Ryuu added.

She perked up in interest.

Kuroko?

Having to notice a puzzled look on her face, Ryuu began to explain.

"A boy who sits near me and has the tendency to fade into the background most of the time. His full name is Kuroko Tetsuya and he seriously have problems when it comes to doing his homework on time. Sometimes I help him in class since we're partners during language class."

Machiko noted how her son made a face –no glowering, no scowling but childish irritation– at his words and couldn't help but chuckled, it's been so long since she heard herself laugh freely. Yet as amusing as Ryuu had said it, she could hear a sense of fondness in his tone.

"Is he your friend?" She questioned, intrigued.

Ryuu paused, crossing his arms over his chest and stared up at the ceiling in thought. "I'm not sure of what his definition of 'friend' is."

"What's your definition of 'friend'?" Machiko asked.

Ryuu uncrossed his arms and turned his gaze to her, eyes wide like a deer in headlights and shoulders slump, obviously taken off guard by her question.

"I..." He began, uncertain with his answer, "I'm not sure." He answered truthfully.

They lapsed back into silence, allowing Ryuu to ponder about his definition of 'friend' while Machiko stared at her son with soft eyes. She did not pry further and decided that their conversation has come to an end but faintly she hoped that this 'Kuroko' character might be a friend that Ryuu truly needed. He made Ryuu unintentionally happy in a sense she haven't seen in a long time.

Especially when their family of three went down to two.

"Well–" She stood up from her spot and ran her hand through Ryuu's damp hair, running her fingers over his scalp like one does to a cat and laid a kiss on his hair, "I should head off to bed now and so should you."

"Okay."Ryuu answered softly, like a lost and confused child. In the safety of home, he looked small and exposed.

Her heart ached at the sight, feeling sad that she couldn't do more.

She took in a deep breath, hoping to keep her voice levelled and spared Ryuu a smile. "Good night."

"Good night, Okassan."

With a faint smile on her lips, she left the room. Leaving Ryuu to his thoughts and emotions.

* * *

"What...what are you doing?"

Ryuu barely paid mind to Kuroko's question as he continued to watch a relatively large snail, close to the size of a baseball but smaller than that, as it slowly crawl up a leaf despite the sot downpour.

Rain drops fell on top of Ryuu's see through umbrella as he crouched down on the side of the path, right next to a bed of barely blooming flowers. The cold morning wind caress exposed skin and with the drop in temperature due to the rain, he shivered and tucked closer to his body in his crouched position. Ryuu read that being compact can make one feel warmer. Despite the cold, his attention is mainly on the small critter slowly making its way up the flower of the stem but even so while his gaze is locked on the critter, his mind danced in his head.

 _"What's your definition of 'friend'?"_

"Watching this big ass snail." He answered to Kuroko, snapping is gaze away to meet teal eyes that were watching him. Ryuu blinked when he saw a slightly drenched Kuroko standing next to him, unperturbed by the rain.

Ryuu stood up and angled his umbrella towards Kuroko so that he's mostly covered from the rain water. He didn't mind if some raindrops fell onto his shoulders. The rain would fall off the plastic instead of soaking the teal haired teen who thought of taking a stroll under the rain, "There is a reason why umbrellas are made portable." He told Kuroko.

After a moment, the black haired teen tilted his head when a thought occurred to him after giving a once over at Kuroko. "Don't you have an umbrella?"

"No." The other teen answered, "I did not check the weather report this morning and came to school without one since it wasn't raining earlier."

"It's _spring_."

"It is." Kuroko agreed nonchalantly, nodding his head at the black haired teen and if it weren't for the small smile on his face, Ryuu would have taken at face value that Kuroko had not taken the hint to what he had emphasized.

Ryuu glared at him, "Don't sass me young man."

"It slipped my mind." Kuroko finally answered truthfully and ran a hand through his wet hair. Several teal locks stubbornly clung to his face despite the attempt to tame it, Ryuu noted that Kuroko's bright hair turned a bit darker when wet. Kuroko's jacket is soaked on top, near the collar and around the upper chest but simply letting it dry on the back of his chair while class is on would fix that problem.

Ryuu watched Kuroko kneel down to watch the snail makes its way to the bottom of the plant and wondered what goes on in his head.

"Why do you hang around me all the time? I'm not the best person to hang around with most of the time," Ryuu asked, letting his thoughts slip past his lips before he realize he had done it, "Aside from the fact that we're seatmates for language class." He added as an afterthought.

He said it. He finally said the words that had been plaguing his mind since his mother had brought it up. There was no turning back.

Kuroko reached over, using one finger to lift over the leaf that had been obscuring the snail from sight before tilting his head up to stare at Ryuu, "I get that."

"And?"

"I can see that you're not the typical high schooler, Igarashi-kun. You have a temper, you have no mouth filter and sometimes you scare me–"

"Wait, really?"

"–but you're not a bad guy that you make yourself into. I don't know about your history especially when you're a delinquent back in the day, all I know is that you are one or used to be one. You could have continued to being a jerk but you _didn't_ and that's the difference," Kuroko stood up, fully facing Ryuu despite the fact the black hair teen is slightly taller than him. "And besides, I like hanging out with you. You're my friend."

Ryuu expected some harsh words or something similar to the negative thoughts in his mind and had braced himself for them. When Kuroko admitted that he liked him as an individual, the person he wanted to be instead of the person he used to be –people tend to overlook that small detail– it had taken him aback.

He was breathless.

 _"What's your definition of 'friend'?"_

He opened his mouth to say something–anything but could only come up with one word, "Thanks."

He wanted to run away.

He can feel the awkwardness from his own words. Ryuu clicked his tongue and thrusted his umbrella into Kuroko's hands so that it was him that's holding it instead of Ryuu before looking away, "And you think that taking a stroll under the rain before class starts is a good thing? Your jacket is soaked and even though its summer soon, you might get sick."

Kuroko tried to hand the umbrella back but Ryuu was having none of it and crossed his arms to prevent the switch. The teal haired teen is obviously displeased with the act as he tried raming the pole into Ryuu's crossed arms but the black haired teen stood strong and had no choice but to hold it. He stopped and stared at Ryuu who in turn stared back with an eyebrow arched at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you concern for my health?" Kuroko questioned with a title of his head.

Ryuu sputtered, momentarily at a loss at his action and felt his right eye twitch, "Shut up, asshole. I'm being nice. Don't make me shove you into that mud puddle."

"I feel touched by your concern, Igarashi-kun."

"Bitch I will throw you into that puddle."

"I'm glad you see me as a friend."

" _Bitch._ "

Kuroko rushed towards the school building with the umbrella in hand, leaving Ryuu in the dust and especially in the rain. The black haired teen watched him run for a while, he could catch up quickly to Kuroko and smack him over the head for leaving him in the rain but allowed Kuroko to get a head start.

"I guess you're my friend." He softly mumbled, feeling the rain slowly soak his jacket and hair before running after Kuroko.

Missing the genuine smile that appeared on his lips as he ran.

* * *

 **Praise Machiko (Ryuu's mother) for making Ryuu realize Kuroko's value to him aside from being a little shit, a sass master and seatmate. Also foreshadowing and Machiko's introspection on Ryuu.  
**

 **My writing style is all over the place btw :')  
**

 **My writing muse wanted me to continue to write on this project I'm working on instead of focusing on updating my stories. I'm seriously way behind update schedule on my KHR fanfic.**


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